Of Inconsequence
by MustacheBuddiesXD
Summary: What if, upon Loki's escape from the helicarrier, he decides to take one Tony Stark with him, just for entertainment? How would that alter the events of what happen in New York City, and what would happen if the two decide that maybe they don't like being enemies? Tony/Loki
1. Crumpled Ball of Dead

**Yay! Back again! This one is going to be a little bit different than A Second Chance, my previous FrostIron. I just loved writing the other one so much that I decided to do a completely different one. This one starts in the middle of the Avengers movie and continues on to a slightly different ending and beyond that. Enjoy, and I love all feedback!**

"Pull the lever, Captain!" Tony shouted as the large propeller started to move ahead of his assisted pushing, meaning that it was starting to go faster than he could fly. He wondered where Steve was and why he wasn't pulling the lever. He had explained it in the simplest terms he could think of. Could Grandpa have misunderstood even after the dumbed-down explanation? Tony could feel the blade behind him starting to skim on the feet of his metal suit, the warnings flashing in his displays, telling him to _get out of there._

"Shit," he muttered, and soon he could no longer tell up from down. He felt like he had been shoved in a paint mixer, being jarred around until he was no longer Tony Stark-shaped, his blurred surroundings showered with the sparks that were flying as the metal of his suit scraped violently with the metal of the inside of the propeller. He knew that if he did not get out of this soon he would be a crumpled ball of dead.

That was when he felt the propeller slow slightly, and he took his chance and jetted out as fast as he could, trying to right himself in the air despite his spinning vision. So Steve must have finally pulled the lever, the lucky bastard. If Tony had died in there he would have killed Steve so hard that he died. If that made any sense. He looped around the bottom of the engine, the blasters in his feet sputtering slightly after the abuse they had just gone through. Looking down on himself Tony knew that he would have to do some major repairs, and a few new coats of paint were in order.

Everything that had seemed to be going fine had suddenly blown up in their faces, quite literally. Well, not fine, per se, as they had been arguing almost to the point of fighting, Tony getting prompts from Steve to put his Iron Man suit on so that they could go a few rounds. Accusations were being thrown at Fury, who had been caught in the act of weapons manufacturing using the tesseract. The air in the room had gotten so tense that you could saw at it with a knife, and a Tony knew that if they didn't stop arguing soon, there might be a huge green monster running around. Bruce had taken one look at the computer and known that something was up, but was not able to say it in time. That was when everything had exploded, the Avengers having to jump out of the way as the window shattered and fire and heat rolled in. Tony then knew for sure that he would have to put on the suit, immediately needed to help repair the damage to the first engine while everyone else was bombarded with the indistinctive agents with those high-powered weapons. Hawkeye had been with them, Tony noticed.

Well, now the engine was fixed, but Tony knew that his help was probably needed somewhere else, so he flew near the break in the ship where the Captain was now firing bullets violently at someone that Tony couldn't see from where he was flying. What Tony could see, though, was one of the rogue agents that seemed to be working for Loki sneaking up behind the distracted Steve. Tony was about to fire one of his repulsors at the man, but was caught by complete surprise when something hit him in the back, something that sent waves of electricity flowing through his suit, effectively shorting it out and making the edges of his vision swim with blackness. Just before he was rendered completely unconscious he felt himself being tugged backward, and somewhere in his mind registered what he thought was the sound of jet engines.

XxX

Tony moaned and sat up, his head swimming and his joints sore, most likely from the floor that seemed to be metal underneath of him. He opened his eyes and almost panicked when he didn't recognize his surroundings. Almost. The first thing he noticed was that there was some sort of loud humming noise in the background. He looked around some more and decided that, yes, he was in a jet and what he had been hearing was the engines. He was currently facing the back of the jet, and when he spun his head around to look up to the front he was met with a pair of leather-clad legs in high buckled boots. He swallowed nervously and let his gaze travel up to the pale face that was peering at him, a smirk twisting the mouth. Loki. His throat went dry and it took him a while to find the proper thing to say.

"Uh, hey there, Reindeer Games?" Tony said, his voice coming out a little scratchy.

"I was wondering when you would wake from your little nap," Loki responded smoothly, a mischievous glint hiding behind green eyes.

Tony's eyes flitted to someone who was standing up behind Loki and noticed that it was Clint; a Clint that had glowing blue eyes and was completely under this psychopath's control. The same psychopath that was now standing over Tony and smirking. Not really a situation Tony would have liked to find himself in.

Loki stared at him for a few more seconds before he moved away and sat in one of the little metal benches that were attached to the metal wall, placing his hands on his knees, still smirking at Tony.

"Okay, you're just going to stare at me creepily like that, or are you going to tell me why I am here?" Tony asked, a little bit peeved. And a little scared, but he would never voice those concerns aloud. Yeah, he had just been kidnapped by a psychopath murderer that also happened to be a _god_ and the personification of lies and chaos, but he was freaking _Tony Stark. _

"I'd figured I'd let you stew for a little bit," Loki said, absent-mindedly examining his fingernails.

Tony grumbled and ran a hand through his hair and remembered that when he had last been conscious he had been in his suit. Looking down at himself revealed that he was in his Black Sabbath t-shirt and jeans.

"Okay, what did you do with my suit?" Tony asked, narrowing his eyes. Last thing he wanted was for Loki to figure out how to work the Iron Man suit. He wouldn't be piloting it, though. Loki was like six inches taller than Tony was, and even though the suit made Tony look taller, it was designed specifically for him and him alone. It was also a very good motivation to stay in shape. Gaining to much in the girth area would also be a problem in the suit.

"Hmm? Removed it by magic, obviously," Loki responded. He pointed to the opposite corner of the jet, and when Tony looked there he saw his dismantled Iron Man suit. It didn't look like Loki had wanted anything to do with it. So that was not the reason that he had taken Tony.

"Are you going to sacrifice me to yourself?" Tony asked, not really meaning it, just filling in the silence. Apparently brainwashed Clint was not very talkative. "You know, enchanted dagger and all that?"

"Perhaps," Loki said, irritating Tony even more. Tony knew that he was being provoked, but it still irked him.

"Considering you haven't brainwashed me already, that is not your plan," Tony mumbled, running a hand through his disheveled hair. This floor was hurting his butt and his hands that he was leaning on. He stood up gingerly, cursing the wave of dizziness that he was met with. "How did you get me in here anyway?"

"Barton had a special arrow," Loki explained. "It shorted out your suit out along with reeling you in with a cord attached to the end." It wasn't hard to tell that Loki liked to explain things; liked people to be impressed. Tony stored that knowledge away for later, hoping that it would be of some use.

Clint looked up and smiled at Tony. There was no emotion in the smile. "You helped me to design it, Stark, remember?"

Tony paled. He did remember; he just never figured that Clint would use it against him. It was dark in the back of the jet, the only light coming from the pilot's windows, and in the murky light Loki looked paler than ever, his green eyes shining in an eerie way. Tony's mind quickly began going over all his ways of possible escape. There was no way he could take on the god right now without any technologies at all, and he didn't really want to die a horrible death. His communicators with the group were down and out with his suit, and his cellphone… His cellphone! He nonchalantly scratched his pants where he knew his cellphone to be and found that there was nothing in his pocket.

"Looking for this?" Loki asked, holding up Tony's phone. "You really think I would be so stupid as to leave this in your reach?" With that he closed a fist around the poor phone, crushing it, sparks flying as it fizzled pathetically. He sat it on the bench next to him.

"Hey!" Stark protested. "That's the only one of those in existence."

"_Was_ the only one in existence," Loki chuckled. "I shall have you know that any plans of escape on your part will only make things worse for you."

Tony mumbled something incomprehensible, sitting back down on the metal floor, favoring a slightly sore back end to standing for however long this ride was going to be. His eyes wandered around the small area, landing on the golden scepter sitting right next to Loki. It glistened with deep red blood.

"Um, what's up with the scepter? Did you kill someone or is that just another one of your little tricks to get attention?" Tony asked. Loki picked up the scepter and wiped the blood off on Clint's shoulder. Clint merely started at him, a slight frown on his face.

"One of your agents got in the way," Loki said simply. "Last mistake he ever made."

"Who was it? Anyone I know?" Tony asked sharply. He didn't know many of the agents personally, but he would like to know anyways.

Loki's mouth twisted slightly. "He's the one that my brother seemed to know well. He sure acted like he did with the yelling and pounding the glass and all. Must have met him when he was serving his banishment."

Tony paled. "Coulson," he mumbled, remembering that it had been Phil Coulson who had traveled to New Mexico to deal with Thor when he had crash-landed there. "You murderer!" he spat, pointing at Loki sharply. "He was an honorable man, and you killed him needlessly!"

Loki was up in a flash, towering over Tony, his eyes cast in shadow. "You better watch your mouth, Stark. You are in my custody now, and I can do as I please to you," he all but hissed, his voice bitingly cold. Tony thought about making a dirty comment at that, but decided he liked living. "I do not do things without reason, and I shall have you remember that."

And just like that he was sitting back on the little bench, hands on his knees, but now he was staring carefully at Tony. To say that Tony was unnerved would be an understatement. He now desperately wanted to know Loki's reasoning for kidnapping him, because it couldn't be good.

"So…" Tony mumbled, just to fill the cutting silence. "About the reason for you apprehending me?"

Loki sighed. "I guess there is no harm in telling you," Loki said, his mouth twisting as he mulled it over. "I wanted a little entertainment; company that isn't completely under my command and provides a little mental challenge. A hobby, really, in the light of all the serious events taking place."

Tony was silent, his mouth slightly agape. "So, you took me just because you were bored?"

Loki nodded.

"The man who is in the process of trying to take over the world and just killed a guy….bored."

"Precisely."

Tony scratched his goatee, frowning. "Why me? Why not Banner or Natasha or something?" Tony asked.

"I think you can figure that out for yourself, Man of Iron." Upon Tony's blank look Loki sighed and went on. "Banner has uncontrollable rage that would be quite an inconvenience, and Romanoff is a skilled assassin who isn't really one for verbal jarring. Any of the others are also not worth my time."

Tony smiled at the thought of Banner sitting here and then going off and 'Hulking' out. Yeah, probably wouldn't have been a good bet on Loki's part. And he supposed that he was not much of a threat without his suit, making him the perfect captive for Loki. "So, Loki doesn't like green pets," he said softly.

"I may have made the wrong decision in taking you, though, as your famed humor is more tiresome than is let on," Loki said absent-mindedly as he examined the scepter in his hands, the blue glow from it washing out what little color he had in his face. There was something in his face that made Tony look closer; something akin to weariness. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he looked a bit bedraggled, but he had done some interstellar hopping and done some crazy stuff while here on Earth, so Tony supposed that was expected. Still, it didn't look right on the god.

As soon as Loki noticed that Tony had his eyes trained on him, his face cleared, leaving only that stupid smirk that Tony was coming to dislike.

"Where are we going, anyways?" Tony asked, trying to peer out of the front window.

Loki shook his head. "Patience, Stark, patience. You are quite familiar with the place, though."

Tony waited about five minutes. "Are we there yet?" He knew he was in mortal danger and probably going to be killed one way or another, but he couldn't resist.

"No, obviously."

"Are you _sure?"_ Yeah, he was going to make Loki regret ever taking him.

**Wheee! This is going to be so much fun! Please tell me if anything you read needs changing or is bad or whatever, I really do love reviews. They make me smile and want to write more, though I probably will anyways.**


	2. The Right Leash

**Thanks for all the alerts and reviews and favorites already! I am very excited about this fic and hope it turns out just as good as I want it to be. Please let me know how I am doing...**

Tony felt the jet start to descend and he sat up in anticipation. For some reason Tony didn't believe Loki when he said that the only reason he had snatched Tony was for entertainment purposes. Loki being the _Liesmith_ was probably one of those reasons. He supposed that Tony being away from the Avengers was a reason that Loki might have taken him, but it wasn't like he was the most important part of the group, so that didn't seem as likely. Fury wasn't even planning on bringing him in immediately.

"Guess what, Stark?" Loki said as he stood up and grabbed his scepter. "We are almost there."

"Yippee," Tony said halfheartedly. When the jet landed he still couldn't tell where they were, and it was really bothering him.

As the back hatch started to open Loki placed a firm hand on Tony's upper arm. "Don't want you running off, now do we?" Loki said, smiling. "This is just until we find a proper leash."

"So I am a pet," Tony mumbled as Loki ushered him out onto the streets….of New York City. He glanced up at Stark Tower which was right down the street, and he felt his heart sink. "You're going to use my building, aren't you?" Tony mumbled.

"You are quite correct, Stark," Loki affirmed, walking in long strides that Tony found slightly difficult to keep up with. Clint was walking right behind him, his bow ready to shoot anything that got in their way, and Tony sincerely hoped that it wasn't going to be him.

"What did you do to that Dr. Selvig guy?" Tony asked Loki, stealing glances sideways at the God of Mischief. "You know, Thor's friend?"

"I think you will find that he is already waiting for us," Loki said and then twisted his head to look directly at Tony. "It would do you well to stop asking questions, Stark, I may get irritated."

"Then why did you take me? I am quite the talker," Tony responded.

Loki didn't answer, just kept walking them briskly to Stark Tower, Clint following closely behind.

XxX

It turned out that Loki had already had his 'helpers' set up some sort of device on the roof of Stark Tower, and that it was going to open a portal to another dimension, where apparently an army of sorts was going to come out. Loki seemed to like to explain things, and that he was doing for Tony, who was cuffed to the railing on the balcony that Tony used to get out of his suit. Something about the way Loki spoke, the way he formed words and told stories, was quite enchanting, and Tony found himself enthralled with Loki's tale of 'divine purpose'. It wasn't like he didn't think the guy was crazy, because he totally was, but Tony had no other choice than to listen, so that he did in earnest.

"So you think you're just going to take over our world and be king?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"You know, we don't have a version of that here on Earth. You may come from a land of kings and all, but we don't do that here," Tony said. He wondered if he could speak to JARVIS from here. Maybe he could alert the Avengers to their whereabouts.

"What could possibly stop me from taking over this puny excuse for a realm?" Loki asked, walking closer to where Tony was currently sitting.

"The Avengers," Tony said, knowing that said Avengers were split up and not on great terms right now, but he had to have some sort of threat up his sleeve. "You know, world's greatest heroes type of thing."

"But, Stark, you are here with me as is the archer, and I have an army, the Chitauri."

"We have a Hulk," Tony retorted, smiling.

"You may have been unconscious for that park, but he wandered off after he lost control," Loki said, glancing out over the city.

"That's not the point. There is still your brother, the demigod, the super soldier, a trained assassin, and a man with a bad case of anger management issues who is somewhere out there waiting for you. You've managed to piss off all of them."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. Because even if we can't save the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki rolled his eyes. "You really need to work on your speech giving, Stark," Loki said. "The potency of it kind of wears off when one realizes you are chained up." Loki took a step back and glanced at the roof of the tower where the machine was being built. "If you will excuse me for a moment, Stark," Loki said, walking over to the edge of the balcony, his clothing fizzling with gold. He was soon dressed in his full armor outfit, complete with cape and horned helmet, and his scepter had elongated to a full staff.

"Whoa, back to playing the reindeer games, are we?" Tony asked him, but was quite distracted when he heard a rather large whooshing sound from above. A huge blue stream of light had shot straight up from the machine and seemed to be splitting the clouds above the tower, showing stars and inky blackness within. Something started pouring out of the rip in the clouds, and on further inspection Tony realized they were c_reatures_ of some sort. "Oh, that army."

Loki was also looking up at the portal, his face unreadable. Tony vaguely wondered if the helmet hurt his neck. Tony looked down at the city and wondered if the remaining Avengers were ready for this; if they knew to come here. His question was answered when he heard a boom of thunder and saw one blonde god flying towards the hoard of aliens, lightening flickering towards the portal.

Well, Loki seemed to be quite distracted by his brother, so Tony decided to take a chance and call to JARVIS. "Hey, JARVIS," he began, but Loki twirled around to face him, a snarl on his face.

He kneeled in front of Tony, locking a thin hand around his throat in a vice-like grip. "Nice try, Stark," he hissed, his face inches from Tony's. He could feel Loki's cold breath ghosting over his face and there was a glint of anger in the green eyes that were glaring at Tony. "You're going to have to try much harder than that." Tony had no idea how Loki would know what he was attempting to do; he had never heard Tony speaking to JARVIS before, but obviously Loki knew that Tony had been trying to escape.

Loki's eyes flicked down to Tony's chest and his eyebrows rose. "I noticed this when I first apprehended you, but I never asked what it was," he said, fingers tapping the blue glow under Tony's shirt. "I am quite curious," Loki said, looking back up at Tony's face.

"Yeah, well, I would be much more obliged to respond if you weren't on the verge of choking me," Tony croaked, looking pointedly at the hand that Loki still had curled around his throat. The grip loosened slightly, but didn't go away completely.

"You're not in much of a position to argue, now are you?" Loki said, the edge of his lips curving upward.

"I could beg to differ," Tony began, but upon the tightening of the grip on his neck he decided that maybe he should explain. Of course it would give Loki an easy way to kill him, but it wasn't like Loki would have any difficulty killing him now if he wanted to.

"It's an arc reactor. It keeps me alive," Tony explained.

"I don't see any other humans sporting these," Loki responded.

"Yeah, well, there aren't many other humans that have little pieces of metal surrounding their heart, are there?" Tony grumbled.

Loki's eyebrows drew together. "Explain," he demanded.

Tony sighed. "Shrapnel from an explosion hit me. This device keeps the shrapnel out of my heart, keeping it from killing me." Tony decided that the explanation with the least amount of details was the way to go. He was not going to have a deep conversation with the insane god that wanted to take over the world.

"Hmm…" Loki muttered, and Tony barely heard him over the sounds of a newly-starting battle below. The explosions shook the floor beneath them, and Loki moved away from Tony to examine his work. Tony let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding in and craned his neck so that he could see the city behind him. Those creatures were everywhere, smashing buildings and scattering screaming citizens who were being ushered away by a man in spangled tights sporting a shield.

Tony was too busy being mesmerized by the chaos below to see the huge fish-like creature that had flown out of the portal, but did notice it when it let out a screech that echoed through the buildings. Tony's head whipped around and his eyes widened at the sight of the thing. "Whoa."

That was when both Natasha and Thor landed on the balcony with a heavy thud, Thor having flown Natasha up here with him. "Man of Iron!" Thor boomed, running towards him, only to be hit across the face by the butt Loki's scepter, wielded by a deranged trickster god. "Brother!" Thor exclaimed, lunging at Loki with his hammer.

They immediately engaged in a pretty scary battle that Tony felt a little too close for comfort to. One stray swing and Tony would be cut in half or something; they had freaking inhuman strength. The swirl of green and red capes was hypnotizing, and if one didn't know they were fighting, they could have been dancing; other than the yells of rage that Thor was giving and the fact that he was swinging a huge hammer.

Natasha walked up to Tony, a smile on her face. "Did you get yourself in trouble?" she asked innocently.

"Not purposely," Tony grumbled. "Now would you please help me get these infernal cuffs off?"

Natasha was about to lean down to assist him when she whirled around, apparently able to hear that Clint had been sneaking up on her. Now Tony was stuck sitting here cuffed to the railing while _two_ deadly duels raged around him; one by two immortal gods, the other by two highly trained assassins.

"Brother, look around you!" Thor boomed to Loki, who was being held in Thor's huge palms. "Is this what you wanted? End this now, Loki." Loki glanced down at the city, his eyes slightly wide, as if seeing the destruction for the first time.

"It's far too late, Thor," Loki said, his eyes flitting back to the blonde god. "It's too late."

Both gods and Tony looked over when they heard a loud hollow clank to see that Natasha had slammed Clint's head really hard into the railing beside Tony, knocking him unconscious almost immediately. He fell to the floor with a dull thump and remained there motionless.

"Ouch," Tony muttered.

Loki took advantage of Thor's slight distraction to stab him in the gut with a dagger that had been hidden on his person somewhere. He pointed one hand at Tony, who felt the cuffs and railing go cold under his hands, and then fade back to normal. Oh jeeze, Tony thougt. What now? Loki gave him a tight, grimace of a smile and then jumped off of the side of the roof. Tony looked down to see that Loki had landed on a flying machine of sorts; the same type used by the alien creatures, zipping away and out of sight. Well, so much for being his personal pet.

Thor stumbled and pulled the dagger from his stomach, dropping the bloodied weapon on the ground with a clank and frowning down at where Loki had just left from. Tony felt a little sympathy for the guy. Thor was just seeking acceptance from Loki and couldn't seem to see that Loki was evil, was never going to be the good guy again. Tony sincerely hoped that his quest for Loki's return home would not cloud the guy's judgement and get them all killed. Thor was an important part in their little group.

"Alright, Stark, let's get you out of those cuffs," Natasha said, having prodded the knocked out Clint a few times to make sure he really was out cold.

"Yeah, and then we can kick some God of Mischief ass," Tony said, itching to get his hands on his suit and into the air. In the air he could handle things better. In the air he was Iron Man and not just a puny human that could be killed with ease. As Iron Man he was an Avenger.

**Well, hope things haven't gotten too confusing... Like I said, this fic is AU, meaning that the events are skewed slightly. I hope that I am getting everything, doing everything correctly. Just let me know if you have a question about anything...**


	3. Don't Do Negotiations with a Hulk Nearby

**Behold! Chapter tres! **

Unfortunately, being Iron Man would have to wait until they figured out how to get these stupid cuffs off his hands. Nothing was working, and Tony sure had a lot of tools in his labs. He had told Natasha to grab some equipment that he thought might work, but he was still firmly affixed to the railing. Not even the railing would budge after being sawed at with almost everything possible. They had discovered that Loki had left his scepter behind when he had jumped off the roof, but even pointing that at the cuffs wasn't working. Thor didn't even know how to use the fancy scepter, so they just set that quite nicely in place inside the penthouse.

Even Thor swinging Mjölnir at the cuffs and railing was not working, and Thor had left with a sympathetic glance in Tony's direction, but was needed for the fight so he could not stay too long. He had flipped the still-unconscious Clint over his shoulder and left with a swing of his hammer. That spell that Loki had cast on the handcuffs and the railing must have had something to do with them being indestructible, but why did Loki want Tony to stay there when the god himself was roaming around the city? Something fishy was definitely going on…

Natasha looked out over the city, her face creasing in worry. "Stark, I'm going to have to leave you here. I came up here in the first place to go check out the stuff on the roof," she said, glancing back down at Tony, who sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead. I'll just stay here and….practice my singing voice," Tony mumbled. Natasha smiled at him once, and then turned on her heal and left for the elevator. His private elevator, but whatever.

Tony found himself increasingly bored. To watch the battle going on behind him he would have to crane his neck completely around, and everything he saw was pretty much the same anyways. He still hadn't spotted the Trickster God anywhere and wondered if the god had bailed, things having gotten out of his hands. That wouldn't be a good thing for Tony, though, with no one but the apparent god able to undo his bonds. Tony didn't like being idle, because it tended to make his mind wander to things that he didn't like to think too often, that's why he was constantly doing something, creating something. Faces of his past swam before his eyes and feelings of betrayal and guilt and pain echoed through him. And he kept getting flashes of Coulson's face. Tony couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the fact that the man was dead. Tony hadn't been best friends with the guy, but they had had mutual respect for one another. He just wished that Coulson didn't have to die the way that he did. He kept hearing the man telling him that he would Tase him and then watch Super Nanny while he drooled on the carpet. Good times.

At one point when Tony was looking down at the city to distract himself he caught sight of Banner in Hulk form working with Thor to bring down one of the huge beasts, beating up the creatures that had crawled over the side of it to stop them, and then shoving a huge piece of metal through the beast's armor. Thor brought his hammer down hard on the sheet of metal, and the creature let a ground-shaking screech and began to descend quickly, Thor and Hulk still standing on top of it and battling the remaining Chitauri.

Tony itched to be out there with them, using his suit to beat up those ugly things. Why had things turned out this way? Why did he have to end up stuck here without any way to help?

"JARVIS, is it possible to deploy the Mark VII right now?" Tony asked the AI. He knew it was probably a no, him being cuffed and all, but it was worth a shot.

"No, unfortunately not, sir. With your current position there would be some…ah, uncomfortable pinching," JARVIS responded.

"Hmph," Tony responded, leaning his head back against the railing in dejection. This was the most boring attempt at taking over the world that Tony had ever been present for. He almost wished that Loki was back to spice things up a little bit. Tony favored a little imminent death over dead boredom.

Natasha had come back down at some point, picking up the discarded scepter. "Dr. Selvig is back with us," she began. "When he was working on the portal he put a backdoor in; a way to close it. We just need this," she explained, holding up the golden scepter that glinted in the sunlight.

Tony nodded. He opened his mouth to respond when JARVIS chimed in.

"Sir, Nick Fury is on the line and wishes to speak with you. It is a message for all of the Avengers, but you don't have a communicator on," JARVIS said.

"Put him through," Tony responded.

"Stark!" Fury's rough voice barked. "Just thought I'd let you know that we have a nuke coming towards the city. Wanted to know if your quick brain could come up with any possible solutions."

Tony rolled his eyes. "I can totally help with that, because I am totally not _cuffed to my building_," he responded.

"Now is not the time for your jab, Stark," Fury said, and the line disconnected. Just. Great. There was a nuke coming in on the city and he was cuffed to one of the tallest buildings there. Just. Great.

"Hey, is it possible to put that nuke in the portal before it closes?" Tony asked, brightening slightly.

Natasha immediately ran for the elevator, speaking urgently into her communicator to Steve to see if he could get Thor to redirect the missile into the portal. It was worth a shot if it was going to save lives.

Tony sat there, wondering how everyone was doing, when one extremely angry green Banner launched over the balcony and through the glass windows, roaring at someone that he had just smashed against the wall….Loki. Loki stood, flipping his cape behind his back.

"Enough!" he shouted, holding his hands out, anger marring his face. "I am a god, you dull creature. You are, all of you, beneath me. I will not be bullied by a-" his rant was cut off by the Hulk seizing his feet in one huge meaty hand.

Tony winced as Loki was repeatedly smashed against the stone flooring by the Hulk, cracking the floor and causing puffs of dust to drift across the room. After Hulk was satisfied that he had broken enough of Loki he threw him down like a toy that he was tired of.

"Puny god," Hulk grunted, launching himself back out over the metropolis to wreak more havoc. It was nice having the Hulk on your team, but there was always the slight worry that he was going to turn on you and rip you to shreds. He was a very high-powered, unwieldy weapon.

Tony looked back over at the broken god that hadn't gotten up, embedded in his own mark in the floor. His green eyes were wide and staring, his lips slightly parted, and he was looking up at the ceiling with a shocked expression on his face. Tony wasn't sure, but he thought he could hear Loki _whimpering_. Gone was the arrogant sneer, the evil glint. Here he was, as venerable as he could possibly get, lying a few yards away from Tony. If Tony didn't see the rise and fall of the god's chest and hear him making noises, he would've bet his Iron Man suits that the god was dead. He looked so limp, lying there like that, his face bleeding and his eyes staring. Well, he sure needed a taste of his own medicine, the arrogant bastard. But it was kinda hard not to feel bad for somebody who had just been beat into the ground repeatedly with no means of saving himself. Not that Tony would admit that.

Tony had no idea how long he stood there staring, watching the motionless god, wondering if he was ever going to get back up. His eyes had closed and Tony could see the magic start to skitter along his skin, most likely healing the broken bones that Banner had given him. If Loki had been anything other than a god he probably would have been killed immediately by the bashing that Banner gave him. Even so, he really had been beaten up.

Tony was momentarily distracted by the loud noise of a large missile overhead, being steered by a blonde god of thunder wielding a hammer. Thor used his extra momentum to launch the thing into the portal, which started to shrink slowly. Right before it closed completely there was a large explosion from the other side, and Tony could just barely see the billowing flames until the portal shut and the sky was completely blue once more. Tony's head spun around when he heard large crashes from the city to see that any of the fish-creatures that were left were falling down, dead, along with any of the other alien warriors. That was strange. There must have been something that linked them to whatever exploded in space. Pretty lucky…

Tony turned his attention back to Loki, who was slowly trying to stand up, using the nearest counter for leverage. His legs were wobbling and he steadied himself for a moment on the counter before trying to walk anywhere. He then made his way slowly over to Tony, stepping gingerly over broken glass and broken stone flooring.

"Well, thanks for the show," Tony said dryly.

Loki winced. "Don't thank me; thank the behemoth that attacked me," he rasped. "But you all have won. Your little band of heroes triumphed," Loki said bitterly. "My execution is imminent."

Tony stared up at him, an eyebrow cocked. "Why am I under the impression that you have some sort of trick up your sleeve to get away?"

Loki kneeled in front of him, a smile playing on his lips. "Tricks are my forte, not aren't they, Stark," he said softly, dangerously.

"Get away from him, Loki," someone said from behind, and Loki whirled around in place, still in his crouching position. Tony suddenly felt something sharp against his throat, and Loki was yanking his head back by his hair. The Avengers had just come out of the elevator, the one who had spoken being Steve, all of them holding some form of weapon, pointing it straight at Loki. Hulk had launched over the balcony and landed behind the Avengers, who were now standing on the balcony.

"Get any nearer and I will not hesitate to slice this little mortal's throat," Loki hissed, pressing the dagger a little tighter against Tony's throat. Where did he get all of these freaking daggers? Tony was in a really awkward position, his head craned back, exposing his neck, his arms still fastened behind his back to a metal rail. Why did Loki have to grip his hair so hard?

The Avengers froze, their eyes locked on Tony and Loki. "Come on, you've already lost. Just leave Tony alone," Steve said, holding up his hands.

"I will not be taken into custody by _you_," Loki growled. "I will not rot in a prison when my powers could be used elsewhere."

"Brother," Thor began, stepping forward.

"_I am not your brother_." Loki was getting more and more worked up, and Tony was beginning to worry the god would slit his throat anyways.

"Okay, let's all just settle down a few notches," Tony rasped. "I am the one under the dagger here and all this arguing is making me a little nervous."

"Silence," Loki growled at him, making Tony raise an eyebrow.

"Alrighty then," he grumbled.

"I would like to inform you all of the position you are in," Loki said silkily, the anger in his voice completely gone. Tony began to suspect the guy of being Bipolar; it sure would explain a good amount. "Stark is currently being held in place by a pair of handcuffs that have been charmed to never come off unless the proper unraveling spell is in place. I am the only one that knows said unraveling spell, and nothing else will work to get him out of the cuffs. So, I will undo the cuffs if you allow me to go free. I will leave you to your…devices," Loki said, eyeing each Avenger in turn.

"You think that we're just going to set free a mass murderer?" Hawkeye asked, his bow still aimed right at Loki's face. So, the bump to the head had cured him after all. What a way to be healed.

"If you shoot me, I will kill him instantly with my knife. If you take me into custody Stark will be stuck here for quite some time. It all depends on how much you like Stark." Tony didn't like his odds at the moment. He really wasn't sure how much they liked him. They did like Iron Man, but only because he was a major asset in battle.

They all stood around staring at each other for what felt like ages, locked in a battle of wills. Tony's neck was hurting and for some reason he wasn't as scared as he probably should be. Sitting here in this position for hours must have numbed him a bit. The silence had almost gotten deafening when Hulk let out a roar that made them all jump, and he threw the nearest thing he could find at Loki and Tony, which happened to be a piece of stone from the floor. Never get into negotiations with a Hulk nearby. It is the best recipe for disaster.

Tony fully expected Loki to slit his throat without a second thought, but slitting his throat would not stop the huge piece of stone from flattening both of them. Tony felt a weird tingling sensation, and then blackness. When the blackness cleared, not only were his cuffs off, but he was somewhere completely different; a place he didn't recognize at first glance. The sensation was a shocking one, and it took him awhile to adjust before he was able to even begin to form coherent thoughts. He looked to the side to realize that Loki was there too, having transported them apparently. He wasn't looking too hot though, paler than usual and swaying in place, before his knees buckled completely. Tony, on instinct, grabbed the god before he hit the ground, and then glanced at their surroundings. Where were they?

**Please tell me if this is confusing in any way. I am trying to get all of the events in the Avengers movie in, but slightly alternate. It can get confusing even to me, so... just let me know. I will get the next chapter up as soon as I can.**


	4. Stop Thinking So Loudly

**Sorry for the slight delay, but I have been a little sidetracked. Please enjoy this nice chapter that I have brewed for you!**

Tony gently set the unconscious, battered god down in the brown sand and looked around. They appeared to be in some sort of shallow crater. It wasn't an overly large crater, but something had struck the Earth at a pretty good speed to have made it. He slowly made his way out of it and saw nothing but stretches of brown desert around him, only intercepted by the small, scrubby bushes that dotted the land. Great. The god that had transported him here was unconscious, he had no possible way of contacting anyone, and they appeared to be in the middle of a freaking desert.

Why would Loki have taken them here of all places? Did he want Tony to die? Yes, probably. Tony absentmindedly rubbed the spot where the cuffs had bitten into his skin in the long hours he had been cuffed to the roof, thinking about all of his options. He could walk until he found civilization, but that wasn't a great idea. He didn't want to leave his best bet of survival here in the crater, even though his best bet of survival could also be his imminent death. There really wasn't much else to do, so he sat down on the lip of the crater, his feet hanging inside of it, staring down at the god. The sun was pleasantly warm in the afternoon light and the sand was soft underneath him. Maybe if he just made himself more comfortable…

Prod. "Stark."

Tony groaned.

Prod. "_Stark."_

"Pepper, jus' another two minutes?"

"I am not this Pepper you are referring to, and if you do not get up in the next few seconds I will shave off that stupid facial hair of yours using my dagger. And I will not be careful about it either."

_That_ made Tony open his eyes and sit up. Loki was standing over him, a frown on his face, his hair not as neatly combed back as it usually was, and sand was coating his armor and in places in his hair. He was also looking a good amount paler than he usually was, which was saying something.

"Where are we?" Tony asked, glancing around at the brown desert around him, eyeing the rolling dunes. The sunset was painting the whole scene in a reddish light, and it was cooling off quickly.

Loki also glanced around and then back down at the crater. "The quickest place I could think to transport in the short amount of time before I was crushed. I just happened to be touching you, so you got the pleasure of coming along."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Tony mumbled. "Where are we? This crater is pretty wicked. What made it?"

Loki sighed and walked back down to the center of the crater, his boots crunching in the sand, looking down at the small raised bit of sand that was in the very middle. "We are somewhere in New Mexico, approximately fifty miles east of the nearest town." A grimace crossed his face. "This crater was created by Mjölnir crashing to Midgard right after Thor was banished here."

Tony remained silent, watching the god carefully. He had heard little of Thor's escapades in New Mexico, never interested enough to listen completely, so this was slightly new to him.

"Thor tried to reclaim the hammer, but found that he was unable to lift it. He got taken into custody by your SHIELD, which he had to break through to get to Mjolnir. I came to here to talk to him; that is why I can transport easily to this spot." For some reason when Loki used the word 'talk' it made Tony believe that there was hidden meaning behind it. Something that made Loki's eyes flash and his jaw clench.

"Can you transport out of this spot? Because I don't know about you, but I am human and require water and food to live," Tony said.

Loki glared at him. "Why is it my duty to make sure that you are alive? I brought you here on accident. I as easily could have left you to get crushed by the stone."

"Yeah, but you didn't," Tony said, standing up and walking down the crater towards Loki. "Why did you leave me cuffed during the whole fight anyways? And if you are so annoyed by me then why did you wake me up in the first place?"

"I left you cuffed so that I may have some sort of leverage later on against your Avengers. I woke you up because your incessant snoring was disrupting my meditation."

"You meditate?" Tony asked, picturing Loki cross-legged in some sort of odd robe. "And I do not snore."

"It is the quickest way to replenish my magic. A transportation following a major healing wreaks havoc upon the body," Loki explained. He then looked up at Tony, mild irritation written on his face. "Your snoring can probably be heard from the nearest town, and you are lucky I didn't just silence the snoring with a dagger through your neck."

Tony remained silent, not liking his chances against an angry Loki with a dagger.

"Now, if you don't mind, Stark, I would like a little silence." Loki glanced up at him. "Do you think you can manage that?"

Tony grumbled, but didn't say anything else. He watched as Loki sunk down in the sand, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. The god made sitting down in the frickin' sand look graceful. How was that even fair? His hands rested on his knees and any expression that was on his face cleared, leaving him with an almost peaceful look.

Tony was perfectly content to sit there and stare at Loki for a little bit longer, but soon found that there were two green eyes boring into him. "Stark, if you keep staring at me the way you do I may find myself with a rash," he said in a slightly agitated voice.

"Sorry, but there's not much else to do seeing as we are sitting in the middle of a barren desert," Tony returned, crossing his arms.

"Play with a rock," Loki said, closing his eyes again, and there was a few seconds more of silence. "And do stop thinking so loudly."

Tony opened his mouth to give a biting retort, but paused. It was stupid, really, to think that Loki could hear his thoughts, but there was a slight doubt in his mind that told him he could. He w_as_ a god, and if Tony had thought that those didn't exist he was wrong now, so it wasn't too far of a stretch to think that maybe he could read Tony's mind. Well, Tony would just have to watch out for that.

He stood up from the lip of the crater and stretched his sore back. Maybe he would walk around and see if there was anything he could do to help out his situation any. He had walked a few paces to the east, putting the setting sun behind him, and almost got run over by a car barreling past him, the car horn fading into the distance with the vehicle. So there _was_ a road here, albeit a dirt one. That just meant that if things got too bad he could hitch a ride to the nearest town. The only thing about that was the fact that there was not another car in sight. He had almost gotten hit by the one and only car that had passed by here in _hours._ Great.

At least Tony didn't have the biggest urge to leave right now, despite the circumstances. He _was_ a little bit thirsty and perhaps a little bit hungry, covered in sand, and sore, but he had gone for hours in the lab without food or water and fell asleep at his worktable plenty. He was Tony Stark and was not going to let a little discomfort stand in the way when he was curious. And he was curious about Loki, seeing the possible hidden feelings that this guy had, other than anger and indifference. No, Loki had real feelings and suffered just like regular humans, he was just good at hiding it. An opportunity to make this guy see that ruling over the Earth was not something that he wanted and save the Earth from Loki's wrath had made itself present. Tony may not have been the most willing Avenger, but this was something that he would do to just because he could, and because he was curious. And it seemed that right now Loki was going to have to deal with him, being as low on magic as he was, and Tony had nowhere to go.

Tony glanced once more down the road and then back at the setting sun, which was almost completely gone. Maybe he better get back to the crater site before he couldn't see at all. Even though Loki was a murderous god, Tony would rather be stuck with him than alone in the dark New Mexican desert at night where he would be eaten by some ravenous night creature. He plodded back the way he came with a smile on his face, a new resolve in his mind. Yeah, he was going to make this god see sense, and it wasn't exactly a bad thing if he irritated Loki while he was at it.

XxX

The remaining Avengers stared at the empty spot in shocked silence, waiting for something else to happen, a sign to let them know that Tony was alright, that he wasn't actually gone. None came. Steve turned to possible chastise Hulk for messing things up, but then deciding that it wasn't worth it. Those were the chances you took when you had the Hulk on your side. He really was much more of an asset than a hindrance, but you just had to watch out for this sort of thing. At least Loki had transported with Tony instead of just killing him or leaving him to get crushed by the incoming projectile that the Hulk had lobbed at them.

"Come on guys, standing here staring is not going to help anyone," Steve told them, turning around to walk back towards the elevator. "We need to tell SHIELD what happened and get to cleaning up the mess." Fury would want to know about everything that had happened, and he would hopefully get some agents working on finding Tony.

The others nodded, all except Thor who didn't move from his staring at the spot where Loki and Tony had vanished from. "Come on, Thor, let's get out of here," Steve said to him, placing a hand on the god's shoulder.

Thor shook his head to clear his inner turmoil, and a sad smile settled on his features. "I am sorry, it saddens me to see all of the trouble that my younger brother has caused everyone. I sincerely hope that Anthony is alright," he said, striding towards the elevator with the rest of the Avengers, sans Tony and the Hulk, who had decided that the elevator was not his chosen form of transportation, electing to jump off of the balcony and out into the city, where he was most likely going to go to calm down and de-Hulk.

"There's always one in the family," Steve supplied while they all rode down in the elevator.

Thor gave him a strange look. "One what?"

Steve sighed. It was nice to know that he wasn't the only one that didn't understand things. Thor had it even worse off than he did. "You know, one person in every family that is crazy or chooses to forget the family."

Thor nodded slowly, his eyes lost in memories that none of the others knew about, memories that involved his brother Loki, his friend, memories that were now nothing but painful reminders of what would never be again, of what he had lost forever. The silence between all of the Avengers was loud, painfully loud.

They all spent the rest of the time it took getting to the helicarrier to steel themselves for Fury's wrath. Not only had Undesirable Number One gotten away, but he had also gotten away with an important Avenger, an important man in general. And they were probably going to take the blame for it. Steve was used to being yelled at by superiors for trivial things, but he didn't know about the others. Yeah, Clint and Natasha were probably used to it by now, having worked for SHIELD for quite some time, but Banner and Thor were not going to take well to it. Alright, maybe Fury would know better than to outright reprimand Banner, as he was not in his right mind, but he sure wouldn't hesitate to yell at everyone else. And something about that one-eyed stare could really frighten the hell out of a person. Even if said person happened to be a superhero.

Steve looked out of the window of the jet they were riding in up to the helicarrier, watching out over the horizon and wondering if Stark was okay, if Loki had hurt him in any way, or if Loki was hurting him right now. He wondered if Stark was even on Earth at all anymore, or if he had been transported to the far reaches of the universe. Steve wondered if Stark was even alive anymore or if they were going to spend lots of time searching for nothing. But Steve was not Captain America for nothing, and he had lots of hope and determination running through him, if not to save Stark then to get revenge on Loki. Loki would never see the end of it if he had killed or harmed a fellow Avenger. Steve would like to be able to sleep well at night knowing that all who deserved it had been avenged.

**Hopefully I will get the next chapter out a little bit faster, but no promises. o.O Anyways, I always appreciate feedback and will give you my best Fury-stare if you don't... or an Odin HAAAEEERRR...**


	5. Daddy Issues

**Gah! I can't believe how quickly life is catching up to me... one moment I have stretches of summer ahead of me, the next I am getting my marching band information packet in the mail telling me to get ready. My August is gonna be a hot and sticky one. Sorry about the babbling, but my mind has been rather fuzzy of late... so please don't kill me if this chapter isn't worth snuff...**

Loki had used the small amount of magic that he could spare to materialize food and water, because gods had to eat and drink too. Tony fully expected Loki to keep it all for himself and leave Tony to die a horrid death, so he was very surprised when a brimming glass of ice water and a tray of fruits and bread that he didn't recognize appeared in the sand in front of him. He looked up at Loki, who was picking at his own food in seeming disinterest, his mind obviously elsewhere as he ate.

"I thought you wanted me dead," Tony said, picking up the glass of water and sniffing it for possible poisoning.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "There are far more interesting ways to kill you than starvation or dehydration," he responded, watching Tony stare warily at the glass in his hand. "Or poisoning for that matter. And when have you ever gotten the impression that I wanted you dead. A dead Anthony Stark is not an interesting Anthony Stark."

Tony shrugged and took a long sip of the water, having not realized how thirsty he actually was. This water tasted amazing; there was something sweet to it, and it quenched his thirst faster than he would have thought. Must be magic water, Tony mused. At this point it had gotten very dark, the only light coming from Tony's arc reactor, the glow of the moon, and the odd glow that Loki seemed to give off. Tony wondered if Loki was glowing on purpose or if it was a god thing. It did odd things to the features of his face, and Tony couldn't help but steal a few glances when he was sure the god wasn't looking.

"What is this stuff?" he asked, eyeing the food that he still hadn't touched. His stomach was rumbling, but he wanted to make sure that whatever was on the tray was not going to wreak havoc on his mortal plumbing. Leave it to Loki to make things difficult for him.

"Fruit and bread," Loki replied. "The easiest thing besides water to conjure."

"This doesn't look like any fruit I have ever seen before," Tony said dubiously.

Loki sighed. "It is fruit that is native to Asgard," he explained. He caught Tony's expression. "They are no different than the fruits you have here other than appearance and taste. No harm will come to you from eating them unless you were to choke." Loki was still picking at his own food, and Tony cursed the fact that Loki looked graceful when e_ating._ Must have something to do with the god thing, thought Tony, but then remembered Thor's eating habits. Well, maybe it was a Loki thing.

Tony gave him one more doubtful look before he picked up what seemed to be the safest looking of the fruit, because he really was hungry, after all. It looked a little bit like a pear in shape, but was super colorful, like someone had spilled paint on it. He took a hesitant bite and was quite surprised at how absolutely amazing it tasted. It was dreadfully sweet, with a slight tang that made it just perfect. Tony wolfed it down, aware of the fact that Loki was watching him. His tray was soon clear and he was much, much happier. He wiped his face on his sleeve, glancing back up at Loki.

"So, Reindeer Games, where you headed after you get your magic back?" Tony asked, noticing the way that Loki's shoulders stiffened and his face became carefully blank.

"That is none of your business, Stark," he said quietly, his voice holding a tone of warning. Not that Tony ever listened to warnings.

"You know, just wondering if you were planning on taking over any other planet. Or killing any other helpless people," Tony said, his tone light. "You know, because all humans deserve to suffer because you have brother and daddy issues."

Loki's head snapped around to fix his gaze on Tony, his eyes narrowing dangerously, and suddenly he had Tony's collar in a tight grip and his face was wild with anger, pulling Tony up to face level. "Don't dare make assumptions about things you have no possible hope of comprehending," he said slowly, each word dripping in venom. He threw Tony away from him into the sand easily, his face a vicious snarl. Stupid godlike strength.

Tony decided that maybe he should stop provoking his way out of this place and play nice for once. It was interesting to see how every one of Loki's emotions other than disinterest or anger were hidden safely behind a mask of calm, though Tony could tell that there was something hidden behind it. Tony knew it all too well. Tony's own mask was one of arrogance and confidence, so he could tell when others were using that technique. Loki just happened to have had a lot more time to perfect this art, and Tony would have to look hard to see what was really underneath. It was like an especially difficult, dangerous puzzle to crack, and Tony did love puzzles. And danger.

He sat up slowly, brushing the sand off of his shirt and pants, watching the god stalk back and forth, anger coming off of him in waves. "You know, Your Godliness, you really shouldn't let anything I say get to you too much. I mean, I may be Tony Stark and all, but my opinion can't mean that much when you've lived for, what? Millenniums?" Tony made sure to hide the fact that Loki was making him a little bit nervous. One wrong thing said and he could be deader than dead.

"I have lived quite a while," Loki said softly. He seemed to have calmed down slightly, as he no longer looked like he wanted to stab Tony with something blunt. He glanced at Tony with an eyebrow raised. "How is it you know about my- how did you phrase it- 'daddy issues'?" Loki asked, his expression calm but his voice suggesting that Tony better tread carefully.

Tony allowed himself a smile. "Well, your brother does happen to be one of us," Tony began, ignoring Loki's muttering of 'he is not my brother.' "We all needed to know just what your motivations were, so he told us a little bit of back information."

Loki's upper lip curled. "And that sure gives you the right to judge me as such," Loki growled.

Tony frowned. "So you think you can get away with killing lots of innocent people and trying to take over our world and not get judged?"

Loki didn't respond, his empty gaze staring unseeingly at the dark horizon.

XxX

"Alright, people, let me get this straight. Not only did Loki get away right from under your fingertips, but he also got away with Tony Stark," Fury said to the haggard group of heroes sitting at the conference table in the helicarrier. What was it with this table and getting chewed out by Fury?

Bruce was now just Bruce and was sitting with them, grim with the knowledge that it had been indirectly his fault that Loki had teleported away with Tony. They had all assured him that it wasn't his fault, but he wasn't hearing any of it. Natasha's face was clear of all emotions, taking in whatever Fury had to say without the slightest flinch. Clint was obviously angry, his arms crossed, leaning back in the swivel chair, his expression dark. He had never gotten the chance to stick an arrow through Loki's eye. At least Hulk had beaten Loki into the floor a few times, and maybe he would replay that bit on the security cameras a few times to quell some of his anger. Thor looked like there was a thunder cloud above his head, and given whom he was, there very well could be. The big man was not good at hiding emotions, and they played out on his face easily; anger, betrayal, worry, along with plenty of others.

Steve was using his soldier's sense to deal with the situation. Nothing would be helped by getting too emotional or panicked. No, the best way to go about it would be to think tactically, finding their best bet on finding Tony. So far none of them had any really useful ideas, and their nerves were starting to wear thin. Where would one look when one of your teammates was stolen by the Nordic God of Mischief? No one really had an answer to that.

"If I may be of any help, there is a way to track my creator," came a cool voice from the ceiling, causing all of them to jump and stare around wildly. Thor was the most surprised, jumping up and glaring at the ceiling.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Alright, when did Tony get the time to install JARVIS into the helicarrier?" he asked, smiling. He had known that Tony had used JARVIS to hack into the SHIELD database, but he hadn't known that Tony had completely installed him into the PA system.

"I was installed almost the moment he came aboard," JARVIS said, sounding smug. Could AIs sound smug?  
"What was it you were saying about tracking Stark?" Fury asked, obviously deciding now was not the time to worry about Stark and his tech. If Stark's tech was able to help them, then that was all that mattered.

"If my creator is indeed still on Earth, which my systems say he is, I can use the arc reactor to track him. It is a simple process that does not take long," JARVIS said. "My creator decided to put the tracker in the new arc reactor just for this sort of purpose. I am the only one that has the ability to locate him." It seemed rather lucky that JARVIS was able to do this, given the circumstances.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Fury asked, frowning, as per usual.

"I did not want to interrupt the speech you were giving to your team." If they didn't know better, it was almost as if JARVIS had an attitude. He probably did if it was Tony who was the creator.

"Okay, where is he then?" Fury asked, annoyance leaking into his tone.

The noise that JARVIS made next almost sounded like a sigh. "I shall initiate tracking code. Give me just a few moments."

They all waited in tense silence, wondering if the device would actually work. There was a pinging sound, and they looked up at the display that was now floating over the conference table. It was showing a GPS map of some sort, and it began to zoom in on the US, before stopping abruptly with a flashing error code covering the screen. "Unfortunately there is a large magical signature blocking my ability to locate my creator. He is on Earth, of that I am sure, but I cannot narrow down his whereabouts."

Fury growled and hit the table in frustration. "We cannot let that bastard get away with everything he has done," he growled, referring to Loki, of course. He then turned to Thor. "Thor, do you know of any way to track your brother's magic signature?"

Thor shook his head. "If there was a way, I would have caught him a long time ago," he said sadly. "Loki has perfected the art of remaining hidden. If he doesn't want to be found, then he won't be."

Bruce looked away from the display that he had been examining, fingering the wire-rimmed glasses in his hands. "There might be a way to do it using this tracking system of JARVIS's. I just need to tinker with it a little bit, if I can get into the system, that is. Thor, can you come with me?" he asked, standing up and heading to the lab, and Thor followed behind him, a curious expression hiding his sorrowed one for the time being.

Fury nodded. "There isn't much else we can do in the meantime except work on the cleaning up of New York and the handling of the tesseract."

Steve scrubbed a hand over his face in weariness, and then stood up. "Where do you need us?" he asked Fury.

"Everywhere." Well, that was helpful.

**Okay, hopefully more action happens in the next chapter... I just have to get past these litter filler scenes. Please review and let me know how I am doing!**


	6. Mine

**Geez, guys, I'm really sorry that this took so long... Major writer's block, among other things (*cough* Sherlock)... Sorry if this chapter sucks, but it is what I have to offer at the moment. **

Tony was running as fast as he could, knowing that it was not going to be fast enough. He knew that whoever was pursuing him was right on his heels, and one faltered step would lead to his immediate doom. At this point he didn't know where he was; it was far too dark, but he could tell that the ground was soft underneath him and that there was nothing ahead of him but darkness and the slight glow of moonlight. His breath was coming in puffs in front of him in the brisk air and his chest was burning like fire. He didn't have much time left now. Fear coursed through him and his heart fluttered in panic. He was probably going to die. He was going to die easily, without a way to save himself, without his Iron Man suit. Exactly how he had always known he was going to die.

Suddenly, Loki was in front of him, and Tony knew at once that this was who had been chasing him. Of course, Loki really didn't need to chase him, did he? All he needed to do was teleport himself in front of Tony, which he had just done. Tony's heels dug into the ground as he tried to stop himself from running headfirst into the god.

"Nice try, Stark," Loki growled, clamping a pale hand on his collar in a vice-like grip. "But you must try much harder if you would like to get away from me," he whispered in Tony's ear, which sent cold goose bumps down Tony's neck and made him shiver. "You are mine, Stark, and it would do you well to remember that."

Tony felt Loki's free hand grab his arc reactor through his thin t-shirt, and his heartbeat sped up. So this was how Loki was going to kill him. He was just going to rip the device right from his chest. Figured. He began to feel the oddest buzzing sensation burning through the arc reactor and his eyes widened. What was going on? What was Loki doing to him? He struggled against Loki's grip uselessly and cursed as the buzzing got worse. Loki was grinning at him dangerously, his green eyes almost glowing in the surrounding darkness.

"Stark! Stark, wake up!" He felt someone shake him. Tony sat up quickly, panting and sweating.

"What?" he mumbled, trying to take in his surroundings, trying to dislodge the dream from his vision. Loki was again standing over him, but his eyebrows were knit together like he was puzzled about something. He noticed that Loki still had his hands clamped on Tony's shoulders and he tilted his head in questioning. Loki seemed to realize what he was doing and backed up quickly.

"You were thrashing about, so I figured I should wake you," Loki explained, standing up and shrugging, but there was something in his voice that Tony couldn't recognize.

Tony nodded, the vision from his dream still burning on the back of his eyelids. He felt clammy and his heart was still beating furiously. The sun was just peeking out over the sand dunes and it was still cool from the night. Tony then realized that there was still a slight odd buzzing sensation in his arc reactor that made his chest burn.

Loki must have noticed his look of puzzlement and discomfort, because he raised an eyebrow. "What is bothering you, Stark?"

"What would it matter to you?" Tony bit out, feeling dizzy. He tried to think back to ever feeling like this before, but came up blank. He hadn't actually had this new arc reactor for very long with the new core, and he wasn't sure if there was any troubleshooting that needed to be done with it. He glanced at Loki and saw that the god still had a few cuts and bruises, which meant that he still didn't have magic. That meant that Loki didn't have anything to do with the arc reactor problem.

"You keep glancing at your arc reactor. Is there something wrong with it?" Loki asked, obviously ignoring Tony's last statement.

Tony sighed. "It is buzzing oddly and I can't figure out…." He paused, his eyes widening. "Of course! The tracker!" He had installed a tracking device in the arc reactor just for purposes like this, when he was stuck in the middle of nowhere or stranded somewhere with a broken suit.

Loki's eyes narrowed. "Tracker?"

"Yeah, so I can be located…" He petered off, noticing the dangerous look that Loki was giving him. Oh right, Loki was kind of holding him captive right now. Not on purpose originally, but it would seem that he did not like the idea of the Avengers finding him presently.

Loki suddenly lunged at him and placed a hand over the arc reactor, a dangerous, concentrated look on his face. There was a strange flash of green, and then the buzzing stopped.

"Hey," Tony mumbled, trying to pull away from Loki, but it was too late now. The tracker had been overridden. "I thought you didn't have much magic."

"That, Stark, doesn't require much magic. You see, magic conquers technology every time." He was still leaning over Tony, and Tony was beginning to feel uncomfortable. They must have different personal space customs over in Asgard, Tony thought.

"Yeah, so why do you want me here so badly?" Tony asked, crawling backwards in the sand slightly to get away from the overbearing god.

"It's not that I want you to stay here with me, because believe me, I do not, but I also dislike the idea of all of your Avengers coming here with me having so little in my magical reserves. No, better for you to be here annoying me slightly than having the whole Avengers team on my tail."

Tony nodded. He almost wanted for Loki to get his magic back so that he could get out of here. Something was bugging him though. "So, when you do get your magic back does that mean that I get to go home, or are you planning something else?"

Loki appeared to think it over. "My plan thus far only involves keeping away from the Avengers, anyone from Asgard, and anything involving the Other and Thanos."

"They're the ones with the Chitauri, right? I think I read that in the paperwork somewhere" Tony said, scratching his chin. "They not happy you lost?"

"Well, they did threaten me with unimaginable torture if I failed them, and going back to Asgard would make it easier for them to get to me," Loki said calmly as if it didn't bother him at all, but Tony could see the fear in his eyes, very subtle, but it was there.

"Why did you even take the gig in the first place?" Tony asked incredulously. Tony himself was a bit of a gambler when it came to high stakes, but this was a little outrageous.

Loki glared at him. "I do not have to explain myself to a mere mortal."

Tony huffed out a breath and stood up, stretching. "What is it with you gods and thinking that you are so much better than every human? Even Thor thinks we're petty," Tony said, twisting his back until it cracked pleasantly. Sleeping on the ground was not something he was used to, especially with how nice his beds were back at home.

"Your lives flash by in the blink of an eye to us, and you are not able to accomplish that much in that small amount of time, so yes, we think you petty. But that is not our fault, is it?" Loki said. "Of course, there have been a few of you that have done amazing things, but not very often. Most of you are mediocre at best."

"Ah, _most_ are mediocre, but not all," Tony said, latching on to the one important part of the sentence that he heard. "You, sir, are speaking to one of the more extraordinary humans."

Loki rolled his eyes. "You keep telling yourself that, Stark," Loki said. Tony's heart rate was settling now that things seemed to have calmed down a bit, but he still felt a little on edge. What was it about this stupid God of Mischief that had him so on edge and not prepared? He didn't feel like that around Thor. But of course Thor was not out to kill everyone, and Loki was unruly and deranged. So maybe that was the reason behind his nervousness.

"Come on, Rock of Ages, you nearly destroyed my planet. At least let me know what motivated you to do it," Tony urged.

Loki had taken a place on the edge of the crater, sitting gracefully on the lip. Tony trudged over and glared down at him. Loki sighed.

"I was on my last string," he began slowly. "I had just fallen from Asgard, not welcome there anymore, and was not in my own head. They reeled me in from the outer reaches of the universe and fed images of power and success into my head, telling me that it could all be mine if I just followed their little plan. Of course I knew a little about you humans, so I was able to help them more than they ever imagined. They are a most bloodthirsty and violent race, so it was only natural that they threaten me with extreme pain and suffering if I were to fail them."

"Which you did," Tony said.

"Yes, Stark, I failed them," he said, and something in his expression changed. "I failed them, and now it is inevitable that they should find me and make truth of their threats."

Tony was staring at Loki out of the corner of his eye, trying to judge what his body language and reactions meant, but Tony was not good at this sort of thing, so he decided that maybe he would just keep an eye out for whatever the god was hiding, because it did seem that he was hiding something.

"You know, there are other ways to go about dealing with family problems, other than trying to take over the Earth," he said finally, using his 'use humor to try to shrug it off' approach.

Loki looked sideways at him. "You act as though you have experience in this matter."

Tony sat down. "Well, you see, I tried to solve my family problems by doing everything I could to impress my father, becoming somewhat of a prodigy as I did so, but it never was enough for him. He died and I still thought he disliked me. And then my closest father figure tried to take over the company, and then kill me multiple times."

"Tell me, Stark, have you ever had your lips sewn shut?" Loki asked calmly.

Tony fell silent, his head snapping around to look at Loki, who had a grimace of a smile on his face. "I'm guessing you have?"

Loki nodded. "I admit that I may have deserved some sort of punishment, but of all the things that have happened over time to me, that is one of the worst, especially since it was Thor that was holding me down." His voice petered off as he was lost in the memories, leaving Tony just to stare at him.

"I knew Thor wasn't as innocent as he acted. Especially since he tried to kill Steve and I the first time we met him," Tony said.

"Thor has always had problems with anger and not thinking before he acts, a trait which has gotten him into trouble many a time," Loki said.

They were sitting in silence, each to their own thoughts, when Loki jumped up suddenly. Tony was jolted from whatever he had been thinking about and clambered to his feet. "What's up?" he asked, watching as Loki furrowed his brow and closed his eyes.

"Shut up, Stark," he growled. Tony's eyes widened when he noticed that the cuts on Loki's face were patching themselves up and that there was a slight green glow ghosting around Loki's hands. His eyes opened, and he smiled a wide smile, showing those bright white teeth. "My magic is back."

"Yippee," Tony answered, not quite sure how that boded for him. Sure, Loki could get them both out of there, but Loki could just as easily pulverize Tony for kicks.

"Stark, you better be happy that my magic has put me in a rather good mood," Loki said, and he reached out and gripped Tony's upper arm. Their surroundings shifted, and Tony found himself to be in Stark Tower on the balcony. It took him a few minutes to make his vision stop spinning around, but he eventually got his bearings. He glanced at Loki, who was standing by the very edge, staring out at the city. He turned to Tony.

"If I ever see you again, Stark, it will be too late for either you or me," he said simply, and then vanished. Tony didn't know why that last statement made him unhappy, but it did. He quickly ignored it and went to go find his shower. _After_ he showered he would tell the Avengers that he was back, safe and sound. Well, safe...

**So, again, sorry about the wait... Please review, and all that jazz... **


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